


Moth to the flame

by ShinyZorua



Series: Worst of us [2]
Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Divorce, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Red Army
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-19 02:13:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11887752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinyZorua/pseuds/ShinyZorua
Summary: The story of a girl with dark-blonde hair and amber eyes, before the events of The End. This will have to do with Betrayal. You don't have to read it though.





	1. Moving

Katelijn was a girl that lived in the Netherlands, along with her Dutch mother and English father. She also had a brother, but he was 5 years older than her. His name was Brian. Her mother was called Liesbeth and her father’s name was Jerry. Liesbeth was a typical Dutch name if you’re wondering. Her father’s surname was Miller. Jerry and Katelijn Miller. They were really close. More so then Katelijn and Brian. Or Liesbeth. 

Her father was always funny and gave everything for her. Her mother, she would often be working on things. She worked at the bank, Katelijn did not know what she did. Father worked at a shooting range that one of his friends owned. Katelijn had come there once or twice, but didn’t understand what was so much fun. The noise? No, that was annoying. Destroying things? Useless. The adrenaline? Probably. She still didn’t like it. But her father did, and that was good. 

And the friend of her father was always nice to her. He even gave her a nice keychain in the form of a gun! When she got to school the day after she got it, and everybody looked at it with wide eyes, she felt special. It felt nice. None of the others in her class had something like that, and she would often point at her friends, jokingly saying that she’ll shoot them. That’s why she always played police officer when they played games together. 

No one could touch the keychain, also. No, they might break it. It was hers and hers alone. 

She loved wearing dresses and other things alike. She didn’t wear heels because she once wore one of her mother’s pair and hurt her ankle. Since then, she hated those. Instead, she wore slippers and mules a lot. No heels, of course. 

When she was 14, her parents started acting differently to each other. Her brother was already out of the house when it started. He studied and wanted to become a surgeon, and lived with a couple friends in an apartment. But, back to the point, her mother and father became more distant. Her mother was acting the strangest. 

One year later, when it was already dark and Katelijn was already sleeping, she woke up and heard yelling downstairs. Her father was sad. She didn’t know why. She got out of bed and got downstairs to check on what was happening. Her father spotted her first. 

‘Katelijn! Oh, sorry, heb ik je wakker gemaakt?’ _Did I wake you up?_ She shook her head. ‘ ’T is goed, wat is er aan de hand?’ _It’s fine, what’s going on?_ Her father sighed. She could see tears in his eyes. ‘Jou moeder is vreemdgegaan.’ _Your mother has cheated._ Katelijn knew what that meant. She had an affair with another! 

Liesbeth was angry at Jerry. ‘Waarom zei je dat?’ _Why did you say that?Mom, why did you do that, are you not happy with us?_ Katelijn yelled. Her father walked over to her and hugged her. She hugged back and started crying. Her mother looked away, ashamed. Since then, she and her mother didn’t talk to each other again. 

Two months later, she and her father were in the car. Yesterday was the last day with her mother. She didn’t talk with her. All parties agreed that it would be best if she stayed with her father. They moved over to England, as both her and her father wanted to live there. He had a new job, he worked at a supermarket. Boring, yes, but it was the best job he could find on such a short notice. She did not have a new school yet. That was good. Then she could get used to the new situation. Their new home was far away from their old one, but that was alright. Everything was ready, besides some small things they had taken with them today. She had her two red-backed salamanders in a glass container on her lap, and they were looking around. A male and a female. She had bought them two years ago, on her 13th birthday, and loved them. Connor and Chloe. They had bred a couple times before, and she gave the eggs to friends of her the first time. The second year, she sold them. None of her friends wanted any that year, so why not make some money from it? And so, she made her first money when she was 14. But now, she was moving into a new house with her father. The house was small, but big enough for both of them. Oh, and Katelijn’s salamanders of course. When they finally arrived, they put the stuff from their old house into their new one, but a big part of it was already brought there with a bus. Her father had a friend who could take it there for them. Katelijn put the glass container with the salamanders on the table and looked around. They could not travel in their own terrarium as it had many items in it, and Katelijn was afraid they would get hurt. So when they had the simple terrarium placed, she partially filled it with water and put the salamanders inside. They seemed to be happy to go back into their old house. Katelijn smiled. She got inside the small garden and set down a small insect trap. She would feed whatever she got to her salamanders. The next day, everything was already unpacked, because most of it was already done. Her father told her that he had a surprise for her, and that they would go there on their bikes. In the Netherlands, where she grew up, bikes were often used, and Katelijn always got to school using one. So it was not new for her. She kinda liked it, actually. Doing something she’d done at home too. So, they got on their bikes after they had breakfast and her father would lead the way. When they reached the place, Katelijn had already seen the signs. They were going to a park, which had an arcade and a small zoo. They first got to the zoo, and Katelijn took a lot of photo’s. Like, really, too much. Then, they went to an arcade. It had many kinds of games, and Katelijn’s father was really happy when he saw a shooting-game (kinda like the one in Fun Dead). While he would play that game for half an hour, impressing the boys that played with him, Katelijn would check on her phone, chatting with her brother. He was doing good, and she was grateful for that. While her father was shooting, one of the men standing there walked up to him and talked to him about something. Then he handed Jerry a card. After that, Katelijn and her father got back “home”. Only a week after her father had worked at the new place and he was fired. The supermarket didn’t have enough money and had to cut on staff. The next week, her father was desperate to find a new place, as he didn’t have enough money to keep this up for much longer. Katelijn was starting to feel his panicking. One night, when she was watching the incredible dr. Pol, her father held up the card that the man at the arcade gave him and looked at it. He looked at Katelijn. She still didn’t have a school. There wasn’t a school nearby either. Katelijn caught his concerned expression. ‘Papa, is everything alright?’ Since they had moved here, she had almost always talked English with her father. Jerry sighed and shook his head. ‘Sorry, Katty, I need your opinion on something.’ Katelijn stood up and walked towards her father, standing next to his chair. She could see the card. It was weird. ‘The army needs people. They have a school and a place for us to stay, but I don’t know. I also want the best for you.’ Katelijn looked closely at the card. ‘That doesn’t really look like it’s from the army,’ she spoke, ‘Not from the English one at least…’ He added softly. Her father nodded. ‘I always wanted to join this army, but then I met your mother. I couldn’t leave her. But here, we have a school and a nice place to stay, and you’re probably able to keep Connor and Chloe too! But, don’t do this just for me. I want to know what YOU think about this, not me.’ That was a hard decision for Katelijn. Moving, again? She looked at her father. Then she thought about it. They would have money, and even a place to stay! She could finally go to school again, get to know children of her own age, learn new things, set up her future! It was the perfect solution. ‘I think it’s the best choice, papa,’ She put her hands around his neck and leaned her head against his. ‘You’ll be the best soldier they’ll get.’ Jerry smiled. ‘Alright, Katty, let’s do this.’


	2. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katelijn''s story continues, opening up a new chapter of her life.

They entered the base. It was big, and had a lot of solar panels and fences. On every corner, they had a lookout-tower, and guards were standing next to the entrance. She had her salamanders in her hands, well, they were in their glass container. The terrarium was in one of the few boxes they had taken with them. She looked around. Soldiers were surrounding her, and some of them held the boxes with their stuff. 

Because of her father’s shooting-skills, he was assigned as tutor for the new recruits, while also fighting in battles. This gave him, and automatically her, a higher rank than usual. Her not much, but still. It felt kinda nice. They treated her and her father with respect. They treated everyone that way. It felt safe. That’s what they wanted everyone to feel. To feel safe, protected and respected. They did a good job at that. 

She would sleep with 9 other girls in one room, and her father would sleep with 4 other tutors. They had a separate room for the animals that children took with them. This is so that the children felt more at home. They had two hamsters, a couple of mice, two turtles and some fish. It was a small room, but it was good for the animals. Katelijn and her father would get the first day to get everything ready and explore the base, and then it started. 

School. 

It was a classroom with about 30 children and 1 teacher, a woman. Once they all sat down on their chairs, and the teacher came in, they all said ‘Hello miss Meyer’ and Katelijn quickly copied them. Miss Meyer stood in front of the class, looking at them with strict eyes. 

‘So, as you can all see, we have one new student.’ She had a German accent. ‘Katelijn, could you please tell something about yourself?’ Katelijn quickly stood up, back straight. ‘Miss, my name is Katelijn Miller, I come from the Netherlands, my father works here as instructor for new recruits, and I have two salamanders called Connor and Chloe, Miss.’ She all said it relatively quickly, and she had been practicing that sentence for a couple times before she entered the classroom. Miss Meyer nodded as Katelijn had sat down again. Then, she started class. 

While the teacher was telling some stuff, Katelijn could hear people behind her whispering. Some of them were talking about her, and some of it about her and her salamanders. One girl, one head bigger than her, whispered to her neighbour ‘So the only thing she can say about herself was about her salamanders’, and chuckled afterwards. Katelijn had the advantage of sitting in the front of the class, so that she wouldn’t have to look at them. After a while, the whispering stopped. 

A couple days later, after all of them had said ‘Hello miss Meyer’, their teacher looked at Katelijn. ‘Katelijn, you’re lucky. Twice a year, we have a special day in which all new students can take a look at different facilities in this base. At the end of the day, you can choose what you’ll be studying for. Heidi has never done that before, just like you, but that was because she joined just after the previous one. So you and Heidi will be doing that tomorrow. You two have to be at the entrance of the base at 9 o’ clock, and it will be useful to take a pen and paper with you.’ 

Miss Meyer had looked at her and Heidi while she was talking, and now that she was done, she looked at the rest of the class. ‘Well, let’s start.’ Katelijn looked behind her, glancing at Heidi. She quickly waved and Heidi waved back, a small smile on her face. Heidi was nice. This would be good. 

They had both been there at 9 precisely, and were picked up by one of the medical specialists. They would get a look at how they worked with patients. Katelijn didn’t like it. People were in pain and bloody, or sick and coughing loudly. No, it was nothing for her. Heidi liked it though. 

Then, they were taken to the kitchen for a quick look behind the scenes. It was hectic, and she didn’t like it. 

Next off, technical facility. Nothing for her, it smelled there and it was hot and hectic as well. 

Then, she and Heidi were picked up by her father, to the shooting ground. He gave us both a small gun and showed us how to shoot. He kept encouraging her, but she was terrible at it. Heidi was not very good either. 

Then, they got to a special room. It was for the people trying to decode messages from other countries and armies. The technical intelligence. Different languages, this was something for her. She and Heidi did a test and while Heidi’s score was pretty low, Katelijn’s was not as bad. And she really liked doing this! So she sighed up for a short course of a month to see if she was ready for this. 

After that came two or three more facilities, and then the last one. The job included cleaning up, washing clothes, making everything neat and tidy, that kind of stuff. Katelijn didn’t really pay attention. She was tired from the day and wanted to work as technical intelligence, cracking codes and translating messages! She didn’t want to clean up, no way. 

The next month was hard work. If she didn’t do it right, she would have to choose another course. So she studied. And studied. Learned lots of information. Did many different things. It was the best month since years. 

And then came the results. 

She hadn’t opened it until her dad had arrived to look at it. She was so excited! Her dad arrived and she ran into his arms. ‘Did you get accepted?’ he asked. ‘I waited for you to see,’ she told him and they sat down on a bench. 

She opened the light-blue envelope with red corners carefully, as if it was as important as the paper inside. She took the tip of the letter and got it out of the envelope. She opened the letter. In order to get through, she needed to get a 6 or higher. A 5.5 would automatically go up to a 6. 

 

She had a 5.3. 

Not a 5.5. Not a 6. No, a 5.3. She stared at the paper, hoping something would tell her that yes, she did actually get through! But no, she had failed. She felt herself starting to cry. Her father put his arms around her, and she held the paper tighter. She dropped it on the floor and held her father tightly. 

‘I-I worked so hard, really!’ ‘Shh, Katty, it’s alright, I believe you. I’m still proud of you.’ Some other kids and adults walked past, feeling bad for her. After a minute or so, she wiped the tears away and stood up after grabbing the paper from the ground. 

Heidi walked up to her and hugged her. ‘I got accepted! I can take a full course as medical specialist! Oh,Katty, I’m so happy!’ Katelijn didn’t say anything. Should she be happy for her friend? Or jealous? When her friend broke up the hug, Heidi could see the sadness in Katelijn’s eyes. ‘D-didn’t you get accepted?’ Katelijn shook her head. But it didn’t matter. 

She’ll make her father proud, no matter what!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't be afraid to ask questions! I'd love to answer them! :3


	3. Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not so bad.

So, she looked through all the options again. Cook, no, soldier, no way! And working with sick and/or wounded people was also a no-go. Nothing was right. The only thing she could still try was housemaid. Cleaning up. 

She had signed up after a lot of thinking, and now walked into the storage with all the supplies that she would need. There she would talk with her new teacher. Miss Brown is what she was called. She came from Canada and was very wise. Katelijn wonder why she would be housemaid if she was so wise, but shook off the thought. 

When she opened the door, she could smell the scent of lavender inside. It smelled nice, like home. Home-home. The lights were already turned on and when she closed the door behind her, she could see miss Brown. She was long, the opposite of what Katelijn was, and had her light-brown hair in a bun. 

Katelijn lowered her head and looked at the ground, muttering a ‘Hello Miss Brown’ with a shaking voice. She held her head down but her eyes looked up, and she could just see a smile on the face of miss Brown. 

She was doing good. ‘You can look up, dear.’ Katelijn did what she was told and held her head up to look at the woman. ‘I’ll make sure that you’ll feel at home here, even if it was not your first choice,’ the woman said. Katelijn gulped and held her back straight. ‘I’m sure I’ll be of use, miss.’ Miss Brown sighed. ‘I’m sure you will, Katelijn. We can always use more housemaids.’ 

Katelijn tilted her head. ‘Really? But, all we do is cleaning up!’ Miss Brown shook her head. ‘It is our primary job, yes, but while doing that, we also give a good example for the rest. And, if someone does something that is not allowed, we will be the first one to see and react on it. We’re housemaids, but caretakers would be a better name.’ 

Katelijn was impressed by this. ‘So, we’re really useful?’ Miss Brown nodded. ‘Yes, we are, just like the rest. Also, we get to hear a lot of things. People always think that we are too busy with cleaning to hear them, but they’re wrong. So, this job has its advantages.’ Miss Brown was smiling at Katelijn, and she could only feel warm inside. ‘Well, let’s get you started. You first need to know everything you’ll be using from this day forward.’ And with that, the first lesson began. 

One and a half month later. She was accepted, of course. She had actually been having fun, although she mostly stayed away from others living here. But now, she would take the full course. Her friend, Heidi, had been doing really well, and school was good too. People would still laugh at her for being a housemaid, but she didn’t care anymore. 

She went to Connor and Chloe, who had been doing very well. Living there was going well, but there was one problem: they didn’t have a calendar in the room that she and 9 other girls slept in. So she didn’t know what date it was, while the others would. So, she got to Connor and Chloe, and when she opened the door to the room, she could see a letter on their terrarium. She opened it carefully and started reading the letter. 

"Hey Katty, how was your day? I’ve been busy, but I’ll see you today in the great hall. Love, dad." Katelijn smiled at the letter. Yes, she would see her father again! It’s been a couple weeks already. So, after she fed her salamanders and checked if they were healthy, she walked to the great hall. 

Once she got in, she could see her father sitting at a table with four chairs around it. One of the chairs was decorated with colourful flags. Just like they always did on her birthday. Her father was sitting there with her teacher and Heidi. Other people were there too, but not for her. They were mostly talking with each other and didn’t really pay attention to the girl. 

She squeaked and ran up to her father, giving him a big hug. Then she hugged Heidi tightly and then carefully hugged miss Brown, who has been acting like a mother to her lately. She was stern when needed to, but was also very kind and caring. So, she sat down on the decorated chair and saw a small pie on the table, just enough for 4 people. 

‘I ordered the chefs to make a pie, just for this occasion!’ miss Brown said. ‘Yea, I wanted to do that too, but the cooks are more impressed by miss Brown here than me,’ her father said, scratching the back of his head. Heidi cut the pie in four and handed all of them a piece. 

‘And, how has everything been going?’ Jerry asked. ‘Very good, actually!’ Katelijn answered. She looked at Heidi. ‘I didn’t have the chance to see you lately. Everything going alright?’ Heidi nodded and swallowed a piece of the pie. ‘Yea, my teacher says I’m doing really well!’ Katelijn smiled and then looked at her father. ‘And you?’ 

‘The recruits have been doing very well lately, so yea, everything’s going well.’ Katelijn nodded. ‘I’m really glad you’re all here,’ she said after taking another bite. Then some of her classmates walked by. One said to the other, just loud enough for the four of them to hear, ‘Oh look, it’s the servants’ birthday, how nice…’ 

‘Trut,’ Katelijn muttered in Dutch. Her father’s face got red and he stood up. ‘Papa, it’s alright, don’t worry!’ she quickly said, and her father took a deep breath. ‘Alright, alright, I’m calm…’ Heidi looked at the ground and Jerry sat back down. The girls were looking. 

‘Heh, does daddy have to come up for you?’ Katelijn didn’t say anything as the girls walked away. 

‘Rotwijf,’ she finally said, taking another bite of the pie. They started talking again, about how everything was going and stuff, when miss Brown stood up. ‘Well, I DO have something to say, Katelijn. Tomorrow, I’ll be gone for a couple days, so you’ll be the one in charge! You already have one and a half month of experience, after all.’ 

She took a small badge out of her pocket and gave it to Katelijn. ‘This will show that you are in charge, so don’t forget that! I’m sure you’ll do fine.’ Katelijn looked at the badge and then back at miss Brown. ‘For how long?’ she asked, and miss Brown answered: ‘5 days. You’ll have free from school. I’ve checked your grades and I don’t think they’ll suffer from that. Also, miss Meyer agreed to this, so don’t worry.’ Miss Brown gave Katelijn another warm smile, and Katelijn smiled back. 

And so, the next day, she was in charge of keeping everything clean. Some adults were giving her a thumbs-up when they saw the badge she was wearing, but most of the kids laughed at her. They had no idea what it meant. So, when the kids were done with school, they would throw garbage on the floor or spill their drinks. The once who did it were the same ones that laughed at her on her birthday. They were really getting on Kat’s nerves. They always did it when no one was looking, which she hated the most. This was going to be a long week…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Katty...


	4. Lose

The second day, her father had to join some other soldiers to go and take over something, Kat didn’t remember. Before he left, Jerry could quickly give her a hug and assure her that everything would go alright. Not that that was needed, Katelijn knew that his father was very skilled and would have no problem with this. So, she did what she had to do. Cleaning up, doing laundry, the normal stuff. 

The next day was also the same, with some encounters of those girls, but luckily, she could find comfort by Heidi and Connor and Chloe. The fourth day of working alone was different though. Very different. 

She was vacuuming the great hall after school when miss Meyer approached her, holding a piece of paper. When Katelijn saw her, she turned off the vacuum cleaner and put it aside. 

‘Miss Meyer?’ she asked. Her teacher sighed and muttered ‘I wish Brown could tell this instead of me…’ Katelijn didn’t know what she meant. ‘Miss Meyer, is everything alright?’ Her teacher held the paper tighter. There were more people in the great hall, including those girls from her class and Heidi. Heidi was talking with one of her teachers and the other girls were chatting about something. 

Miss Meyer took a small step forward. ‘Katelijn, I have some, unsettling news…’ Katelijn tilted her head. ‘Unsettling?’ Her teacher nodded slightly. Miss Meyer bit her lip, muttering something in German, and Katelijn could only understand half of it. 

‘Miss?’ she asked again, ‘What’s going on?’ Miss Meyer took a deep breath. ‘Your father, he was shot,’ her teacher said softly, it was hard for her to tell something like that to one of her students. When Kat heard that, she took a step back. Then another. 

‘Is he alive?’ she all but yelled, making all the others in the great hall hear her. Miss Meyer closer her eyes, ‘He died not more than a minute after…’ Then, something inside Katelijn fell apart, like a caterpillar being crushed by a fist. 

‘NO!’ she yelled. Everything went silent, people stopped talking, stopped doing what they were doing, until Katelijn felt tears filling her eyes. ‘He’s gone?’ she asked her teacher softly, who nodded slightly. Kat felt miserable. Tears rolled down her cheeks as sobs shook her body. 

Miss Meyer put her arms around her student, hoping it would comfort the girl. Katelijn could hear someone running her way and then another set of arms surrounded her. ‘Kat, I’m so sorry!’ 

Heidi. 

Her friend took her away to her room and sat her down on her bed, rubbing her back softly. ‘He’s gone…’ she muttered. ‘I’ve lost him, lost him forever…’ Heidi didn’t know what to do now, so she left her friend alone for a while. Katelijn stayed in her room until it was time for dinner. 

In the cafeteria, she didn’t look at the others. Some of them looked at her, knowing what had happened. When she sat down and took small bites of her vegetables, Heidi sat next to her. Some others sat on the same table, mostly adults as there was no place on other tables, but they didn’t talk to her. Kat was grateful for that. She didn’t want to talk about this. She wanted to be alone. 

So as soon as she was done, she got to Connor and Chloe. She gave them some food and talked to them about her father. Most people want animals to be able to talk back, but this time, she didn’t want that. She wanted someone to listen to her, that’s all. 

Then, she went to bed. What time was it? And did it matter? No, it didn’t. Sleep is what mattered now. 

The next morning, before she had to get up, she received a letter from miss Meyer. It said that she could take a day off, which Kat really appreciated. She took this time to rest some more and then went to her salamanders. She was talking to them again, mostly about her dad and what great things he did. Who cares if she would cry, she needed this off her shoulders. 

After some time, she got breakfast in the cafeteria, which was almost empty. Then miss Brown entered. When she spotted Katelijn, she quickly made her way to her and sat next to her. ‘Kat, I’m so sorry I couldn’t come earlier…’ She put her hand on Katelijn’s shoulder, who gave a soft smile. 

‘It’s alright,’ she spoke softly, not wanting to upset her teacher. ‘You have the day off, right? Everyone your age gets a day off when they hear something like this, and I completely understand. You don’t need to work today.’ Kat shook her head, eyes blankly staring at her plate. ‘I don’t want to just sit here, doing nothing. I want to help you today, is that alright?’ She looked at her teacher with pleading eyes. 

She didn’t want to be alone, the company of her teacher always helped her brighten up. Miss Brown smiled softly, removing the hand on her student’s shoulder. ‘Of course, dear, I’ll go and do the laundry, you can join whenever you want to.’ With that, miss Brown stood up and left. Kat sat there for a little more and then joined her teacher. 

Later that day, around 2 PM, she and her teacher were cleaning in the halls when a couple of her classmates passed. Not just classmates, the ones that treated her like trash. Miss Brown got to the bathroom, so they took their chances. 

‘So, the servant is father-less?’ Katelijn was holding a rag and held it tighter when she heard those words. 

‘Such a shame, why don’t you go back to momma,’ another one added. 

‘Who’s gonna protect you now, servant?’ 

She felt someone tugging at her hair (which was not very long so she didn’t need to put it in a ponytail) and she quickly turned around. ‘Oh, hey, is the servant thinking about fighting back?’ ‘Heh, as a moth to the flame,’ another one said. Kat felt like breaking down. How could people be this cruel? She shook her head. 

‘Stop it, shut up!’ she yelled, earning chuckles in response. ‘See? She’s already calling for help. Pathetic.’ Stop, stop, STOP! Katelijn felt to her knees and put her hands on her face to hide her tears, while the others laughed at her. 

Then, they heard footsteps. 

Suddenly, the girls were gone and a soldier was sitting on his knees, looking at her. ‘Hey, calm down, what’s wrong?’ the man asked in a soothing voice. Katelijn calmed her breath and slowly stood up. What were the names of those girls again? Oh yea, Amber, Beth and Caroline. She told the soldier what happened, and he listened closely. ‘I’ll ask miss Meyer to talk to them and hear their side of the story, alright?’ Kat sighed and nodded. ‘Thanks,’ she said softly, going back to cleaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that this chapter was good. I don't remember how it feels to lose someone that close, so I don't know how to portray it. Again, I hope it was good.


	5. Win

The next day, she had to go back to school. Before class started, miss Meyer told her that Amber, Beth and Caroline didn’t do anything. Or, according to the girls that is. 

‘I don’t know who to believe,’ her teacher said, ‘we’ll figure out later, okay?’ Katelijn felt like she could sink through the ground. Her teacher believed those witches? 

The rest of the day went by in a blur, until she got to miss Brown. While they were cleaning, one of her male classmates dropped a plastic cup on the ground, and miss Brown pointed at the kid. 

‘Go ask if he’ll pick it up, you need to learn that too,’ she said, and Katelijn obliged. ‘Uh, hello, you dropped that cup on the ground, can you pick it up?’ 

The kid was learning to be a soldier, she just remembered. His name was Daniel and he came from America with his uncle. The boy looked at her and then at the cup. ‘You’re the servant, right? Why don’t you clean it up?’ 

That word again. Servant. She had grown to hate it. 

‘Clean it up, now, you were the one dropping it in the first place!’ The boy rolled with his eyes. ‘Nah, you’re closer to it now,’ he responded, not really interested. 

Before anything else happened, miss Brown stood next to Kat and spoke firmly: ‘Young man, you will listen to my assistant, or I will talk to your teacher and tell her that you need to clean the toilers every day for the next month, understood?’ The boy swallowed nervously and quickly grabbed the cup from the ground. When he walked past a trash can, he threw it in, turning his head to see if miss Brown was still watching. She was. 

When he got around the corner, miss Brown put a hand on Kat’s shoulder. ‘You still have that badge, you know, don’t be afraid to use it.’ Katelijn looked at the badge. That’s right! Maybe this way she can get rid of the girls that try to ruin her life! 

So, a day later, while miss Brown was cleaning another room, the girls tried their old tricks. Beth casually dropped a cup of coffee and they all looked at Katelijn. Amber clapper her hands and Caroline said, in a seemingly-sweet voice, ‘Oh, servant?~’ Katelijn tensed up after hearing that, but quickly recovered. 

She turned around and walked towards the girls, trying to look as confident as possible. ‘What is it, C?’ The girl squinted her eyes and then pointed at the spilled coffee. ‘Clean up. Now.’ 

Katelijn didn’t move as she looked at the girls. ‘No, I think you should clean up.’ She pointed at her badge without shifting her gaze. 

‘Hah, so our little servant has a badge,’ Amber said, waving her hand, ‘does that change anything? I don’t think so…’ 

‘I’m the one in charge here, you know. If you don’t listen to what I say, miss Brown will send a very nice letter to miss Meyer explaining that you don’t behave the way you should. She would probably say something like, “Ich bin von dir enttäuscht.” You probably don’t know what that means, but I do. I don’t think you would want to let down our teacher, would you?’ 

Amber took a small step back and Katelijn couldn’t keep a slight smile from showing on her face. 

‘Miss Meyer wouldn’t believe you, she trusts us more than you!’ Beth sounded convincing, but that wouldn’t stop Katelijn as she grabbed a yellow rag and pushed it in Beth’s hands. ‘You dropped it, you clean up.’ Beth quickly dropped the rag and her face turned from convinced to disgusted. ‘Eww, I’m not some servant like you!’ 

Then, miss Brown came from around the corner. She wanted to say something, but then looked at the spilled coffee, the rag laying on the ground and Beth’s expression. ‘Katelijn, what’s going on?’ 

Katelijn finally looked away from the girls as her head turned towards her teacher. ‘There girls don’t want to clean up the mess they made, should we contact miss Meyer?’ Katelijn smirked as she looked at her teacher, who gave an understanding glance back. 

‘Well, my dear assistant and pupil, that sounds like an exquisite idea! We must learn these ladies some manners, after all…’ Amber gulped, Caroline took a step back and Beth quickly grabbed the rag to clean up the mess she made. 

Katelijn smiled as the girls quickly walked away after Beth was done. ‘You know, this feels good…’ Miss Brown put her hand on Katelijn’s shoulder and smiled too. ‘I totally agree…’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be one more chapter after this, but it will only be 200 words or so long. Just to finish things up and stuff. I know ot many people read this, and I understand, as I've mostly created this story to develop Katelijn's character and to get to know her a bit better. Tomorrow (if I don't screw everything up) I will post the last chapter.


	6. Complete

Her father’s stuff was taken out of his room as Katelijn watched. The people said that she could look if she wanted something before they brought it away, so she looked through one of the two boxes. 

She could have his gun, and she happily obliged. She would hang it on the wall above her bed. She also took his badge and journal. 

While looking through the box, she found something that she had not seen her father with before. 

When she grabbed it, she saw that it was a pink headband. Not only that, it had a moth on it. 

A poplar grey, to be exact.   
Acronicta megacephala.   
Schilddrager. The Dutch name. She remembers when she had a poplar grey back home. Home home. She called it Katelijn, because she was only 6 back then and she wasn't very creative, and kept it safe in a big container. Now that she thinks back to it, it was not the best thing to do, but she was still young. 

She smiled as she looked at the headband and she put it in her hair. It fit perfectly. 

The poplar grey.   
Acronicta megacephala.   
Schilddrager.   
Schild meaning shield, drager meaning bearer.   
Shield bearer.   
Schilddrager. 

After that day, she changed her surname, leaving her old life behind.


End file.
